Old Shizuoka City Hall: Another Cultural Asset saved from the Developers’ clutches!

If you go to the modern Shizuoka City Hall in Aoi Ku you will notice an old building topped with a dome on its right.
The whole building had been the city Hall of Shizuoka City from 1886 to 1986, just a century.
Having lived 38 years in Shizuoka City I witnessed the building of the new City Hall (which had to be restarted after it was discovered that its foundation was too low!) and shared the worries of the local citizens when the mayor in place, Shingo Amano (you will not find his name in all records as he had to step down in second mid-term after one too many financial scandals!), wanted to pull down the whole edifice to leave place to another of his expensive “monuments”.

The edifice created by a guest British architect was finally saved out of the mayor’s friends’ clutches when various citizen groups finally woke up and started a damaging campaign forcing the mayor to relent (the beginning of end for him actually!).

The building has since then been used as a meeting hall, library and document vault.
You can actually visit most of it on your own without permission.
It is a great place to explore for photography buffs with old stairs, panels. windows and waht else!

Try and catch the dome under a red dusk sky! I’m sure you will have plenty of striking pics to show back home!